San Diego Consumer Confidence Increases Along With U.S. Numbers

Consumer confidence in San Diego County rose to its highest point in 16 months in January, as signs of economic stability increased. The following are the key findings include of the consumer confidence survey conducted by the Union-Tribune:

• 24 percent of respondents expect their income to be higher six months from now – a rise of 6 percentage points from December – and 63 percent expect it to remain the same, leaving less than 13 percent who expect a salary cut.
• 32 percent expect the future of San Diego business conditions to be better, up 7 points from December.
• 23 percent rate current San Diego business conditions as “good”, up nearly 7 points since December.
• 58 percent still think the current San Diego job market is bad, but that’s down by nearly 11 points from December.

Nationwide, optimism continued to build in February as well, according to the latest Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer confidence survey. The survey reports that confidence rose from 74.2 in January to 77.5 in February, hitting its highest level since the dawn of the recession in January 2008.

Consumer confidence numbers are seen as leading indicators of economic growth, since they are seen as an indicator of how willing consumers might be to buy big-ticket items. But despite the improving mood, personal spending only increased 0.2 percent last month, as rising gas and fuel prices made consumers less likely to spend money on non-essential items.

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